Greece: Avgolemono Soup

There are a number of recipes that are now considered Greek although they originated from other regions or cultures. We discovered this with the history of moussaka and this is also the case with avgolemono.

What is avgolemono?

Avgolemono, literally “egg-lemon” in Greek, is a term used to define soups or sauces made with eggs and lemon juice mixed with broth and heated until thickened to make a delicately silky, creamy and tangy sauce. The sauce is always made from the liquid in which the meats, fish or vegetables have been cooked.

The name in Arabic (tarbiya) and Turkish (terbiye) literally means “treatment” or “improvement”. In Arabic, it is also called beida bi-lemoune (egg with lemon).

What is the origin of avgolemono?

A number of food historians trace the origins of avgolemono to southern Europe, suggesting that the recipe traveled to Greece with Sephardic Jews.

In Sephardic Jewish cuisine, avgolemono is actually called agristada or salsa blanca. Agristada was prepared by the Jews in Iberia before their expulsion from Spain. At the time, it was made with verjuice (agraz), pomegranate juice, or bitter orange juice, but not vinegar. After the popularization of lemon in the Mediterranean around the tenth century, the citrus became the standard souring agent. The Jews from Spain (Sephardim) were actually at the forefront of citrus cultivation during the Middle Ages as they were growing citrons for the Sukkot festival. Therefore, the practice of using lemons in sauces like agristada first became widespread among them.

Sopa de huevos y limon (egg-lemon soup) is the ladino name given by Sephardic Jews. Jews from Salonika, as well as Turkey and the Balkans, traditionally serve different versions of this soup after the fast of Yom Kippur.

The same sauce is present in Balkan cuisine as well as in Italian cuisine where it is known as bagna brusca, brodettato, or brodo brusco.

In Greek homes, women usually make avgolemono with egg whites and egg yolks. Professional chefs tend to omit the egg whites and thicken the sauce with cornstarch.

The whites may be beaten into a foam separately before mixing with the yolks and lemon juice, or the whole eggs may be beaten with the lemon juice. The starch of the rice or orzo contributes to stabilizing the emulsion.

In Greek villages, people make a kissing sound when adding the avgolemono to the soup or dish. It is known as a magical trick to keep the egg from curdling. This is the moment when you need to pay attention to how slowly you add the broth to the egg mixture, while constantly beating.

Avgolemono is used in a variety of dishes, including the standard traditional chicken soup called soupa avgolemono or kotosoupa avgolemono that I chose to prepare today. The same sauce is also found in other delicious soups like psarosoupa avgolemono (fish soup), magiritsa (lamb offal soup made for Easter), prasoselino soupa (leek and celery soup), patsa (tripe soup) or yuvarlakia (meatball soup).

The Greeks are really fond of soups but also sauces and dips, like tzatziki, Bechamel sauce used in preparations like moussaka or pastitsio, or skordalia, a garlic-based sauce typically served with batter-fried fish, fried vegetables (eggplant and zucchini), poached fish, or boiled vegetables (mostly beets).

Avgolemono is almost as famous as the emblematic fasolada, but other delicious traditional soups include kakavia (fish soup), fakes (lentil soup), kreatosoupa (lamb and barley soup) or domatosoupa (tomato and rice soup).

This was the first time I made avgolemono. I decided to go with the version with the egg whites beaten separately, which probably helped getting a silkier and creamier texture. If you read 196 flavors regularly, you know by now that I am not a soup fan and especially not a chicken soup fan, which is “hospital food” to me… but that was before I discovered this soup. Yes, I have to say that the addition of avgolemono to this chicken soup changes everything.

The creaminess of the eggs combined with the citrusy flavor take this soup to a whole new level… ok, maybe not the level of my favorite soup of all time, marak temani… but we’re not far!

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Mike is “the devil” of the 196 flavors' duo. Nicknamed as such by his friends, he is constantly in search of unusual recipes and techniques with impossible to find ingredients. The devil is always pushing the envelope, whether it is with humor or culinary surprises.

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What I meant is that no one in Brazil would consider or think of moqueca as soup. I am not an expert like Denise, but I lived in three different Sates in Brazil: Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. My mother cooked, but always had maids and my grandmother, though she came from a German family, cooked Brazilian food and learned a lot from these Sates when we lived there. Absolutely, each family has a different take on the same recipe. On the matter of clay pots, I learned to cook Barreado (a recipe typical of the state of Paraná) from a lady who cooked for a family owned restaurant. They used clay containers with rounded bottom with a lid. I bought one and mine was a black kind of clay–not sure what it was. Barreado is made with cheap cuts of meat, bacon, garlic, onions, bay leafs, etc., which are layered in the pan, starting with the bacon, so the meat doesn’t stick to the bottom. The pan is “sealed” by applying a mixture of flour and water around its lid, which acts by creating pressure, and cooks for a long time. It’s not difficult and the result is delicious; you should give it a try. Barreado comes from the seal, which consistence is similar to that of “barro,” soft mud. Delicioso!

Hi, Mike! This soup recipe looks delicious. My husband is always talking about this soup. He had it at a Greek restaurant years ago. I have never attempted making it for him in fear that the eggs would curdle, but you make it sound relatively easy. Would you suggest beating the eggs with an electric hand mixer to stiffen up the whites and while adding the chicken broth in?

Thank you Marissa! Well, the trick is really to add the hot chicken broth slowly and “temper” the eggs so they do not curdle. Add just a little bit first, beat, then a little more, beat again, then add the rest of the broth. Hope this helps. Enjoy!

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[…] poke around online, and made a chart, as one does, comparing recipes (here, here, here, here, and here) based on cups of broth to number of eggs to tablespoons of lemon juice to amount of rice/pasta […]